Board of Regents v. Roth

United States Supreme Court408 U.S. 564 (1972)

Facts

David Roth (plaintiff) was hired for his first teaching job as an assistant professor of political science at Wisconsin State University-Oshkosh. He was hired for a fixed term of one academic year. At the conclusion of this year, Roth was not hired for an additional term. Under Wisconsin law, a state university employee could acquire tenure rights to employment after four years of consecutive year-to-year employment. However, without tenure, relatively new teachers had no right to employment beyond their initial one-year appointment. After the President of the University informed Roth that he would not be rehired, he brought suit against the Board of Regents of Wisconsin State University-Oshkosh (defendant) in district court on the grounds that the decision not to rehire him for the next year infringed his Fourteenth Amendment rights. The district court granted summary judgment for the Board of Regents on the procedural due process issue, and the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.

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